Electric motors include stator assemblies which have conductors for the motor. The stator stack for the stator assembly includes spaced-apart teeth that extend radially from the stator stack and define stator slots. The conductors are threaded into the stator slots and individually twisted into their required positions. Generally, metal tooling is used to assist in maintaining the desired position of the conductors during the assembly and twisting operation. The metal tooling generally has a number of metal fingers that extend radially between the individual conductors being threaded into the stator stack. After assembly is complete, the metal fingers are removed. The conductors must be electrically isolated from the stator stack to prevent phase-to-ground shorts, and from one another to prevent phase-to-phase shorts from occurring.